Friday, February 20, 2009

More fun than necessary

I had waaaaaay too much fun taking these photos yesterday. I musta changed around that journal "quilt" configuration and taken a picture of it about 64 times. Proof being a dead camera battery, of course (charging now). I worked on these new goods last summer with a huge amount of giddiness due to being such a sucka for blank sheets of pratically anything....journals, stationery, sketchpads, notecards, recipe cards, etc. I think the obsession might be akin to the sticker love and pencil love I know so many of you can relate to. I'll hopefully be getting all the goodies loaded into the shop today and sending out an emailing to the list once they're there.

Now then, onto more important things. Eating your vegetables. I found what I thought would finally be that one thing that our son Joseph would be tricked into eating. Amazingly yummy and and slightly salty and very crispy veggie chips. And not the tri-colored dehydrated potato chips that you can get, but these are indie-made from my local Fresh Market (aka my personal bank account drainer). I was prepared for the fact that they actually look like vegetables (they are, duh) and this might scare him from trying them. He tried it anyway. And he did not like it. At all. Not even if I offered a whopping dollop of sour cream (which is amazing btw). So. Any suggestions for a 9year old who hasn't eaten and swallowed and kept down anything green (save gummy worms) in about 7 years?

This is of course being asked by someone who also stood in front of the ice cream doors for about 10 minutes deciding on the perfect two pint combo of Ben & Jerry's last night. But I can plead pregnancy. I don't know what Jeff's excuse is. In exchange for your sneaking-in-vegetables advice, I will offer that the Pistachio and the Cherry Garcia are a match made in dairy heaven. Spumoni-like.

Good luck with your son eating veggies...I think I've got you beat, though. My son is 11 and doesn't eat any vegetable or fruit! Unless you count McDonald's french fries as a veggie! He does, however, eat tons of yogurt and drinks plenty of milk. (smile!~!)

KD with pureed butternut squash mixed in is a great trick - taken from Jessica Seinfeld's book. There are a bunch more tips in there, but I think my tykes would see through most of them! I will be reading the comments here for more tips!

Dear Anna Maria, when I was a child, cooked vegetables made me gag, litteraly, I could not eat them ( except for mashed potatoes. I did eat them raw but cooked, never. This changed when I started eating at friends houses. Especialy the ones that had intimidating mothers. I was shy and eager to please and so if I was served vegies away from home I would eat them, and one out of 2 times I would like them...drove my mom nuts. One thing my mom did to trick me into getting a bit of greens was to cook a bunch of veggies together and then blend them into a purée. She would then either add meet and make them into a pasta sauce or add cream and broth and make a "potage" (cream soup). When I was a teen, my dad would have me fix the vegies for the meals. That also got me eating more. I think the only thing that realy that would real discourage me was when they tried to force me to eat them. Today I'll eat anything but raw onions. Don't dispaire, my son is allergic to milk and he is strong and healthy. As long as he eat a good variety of other nutrious foods (and I'm sure he does since you look like a great cook) he'll be fine. I did't eat green vegies until I was 15 and still I never broke a bone or got a serious illness. Rock on with the stationary! Danielle

My 3 veggie-encouraging secret weapons? 1)blender; I blend up the cooked veggies to put in soups and spaghetti sauce. 2)burrito wraps; I can put practically any dinner I make into a burrito with shredded melting cheese and they will eat it. It's amazing!! 3)baked goods anyone? Zuchini/apple muffins/breads, carrot cake, etc. Good luck!

I consider ketchup to be a vegetable, as is carrot cake. Not helpful, I know. One of my five daughters is opposed to vegetables, too. When she HAS to eat a vegetable she concocts a ranch dressing soup with a carrot coin floating in it. The dressing kinda negates the carrot, but the carrot assauges my mommy guilt. What can I say? We mommies do what I can.

My son (11 years old today)has HATED veggies since toddlerhood. I tried various things over the past several years, but nothing worked until this past summer when I planted a garden. Somehow, in the process of watching the veggies grow, he became much more adventurous with his eating habits. He still doesn't love vegetables in general, but he has added green peppers, jalepeno peppers, beans and cauliflower to his repertoire.

If your son enjoys spahetti sauce, you can grate carrots or add some spinach to the sauce and then puree the whole mess once the veggies have cooked. Make sure he's not in the room when you do it though! Pureed soups are another sneaky trick.

someone else may have said this already, but i love jessica's seinfeld's book, "deceptively delicious." it sneaks veggies into everything! and most of the time, they are color-coordinated so you can't even tell. i am really enjoying these recipes and neither my husband nor my kids knows when their yummy snacks have been "tainted" with the good stuff!

My suggestion too is the edamame. My three boys love them because you can buy them in the pod and "pop" them out! This is fun and they are tastey...and full of protein. But the "popping" into the mouth is the trick! Good luck!

My daughter loves all fruits (even grapefruit) and hates all veggies. The two things I have gotten her to eat (she doesn't love them but she DOES eat them are macaroni and smoked gouda with cauliflower (http://tinyurl.com/652fvj) and broccoli potato puree (http://tinyurl.com/c3z39v). Oh - we also had a fun experience last summer. I love summer squash and one of my favorite ways to fix it is sauteed in some olive oil and butter with some salt, then top with fresh parsley and parmesan. My daughter hates it. Then I made it last summer with some perfect baby squash from the farmer's market and she couldn't get enough. She said, "From now on you should only buy squash from that guy at the farmer's market instead of the yucky kind from the grocery store." Out of the mouths of babes. . .

I make my kids a "green shake" for lunch everyday. Soy milk, tons of spinach, frozen blueberries, bananas, mangoes and any other fruit you've got. You can hardly taste the spinach and then I don't feel guilty about what they eat the rest of the day because they have had all the fruits and veggies they need for the day. I tell them its green from the blueberries and bananas mixing, they don't even know about the spinach. (Also good for pregnant mama).

Oh, I just LOVE these paper goods! Hoorah!I put frozen spinach in my lasagna (mix it into the ricotta mixture) and not a single person has ever noticed! I also shred carrots into tomato sauce (although shredded spinach would go there too!)Like everyone else mentioned - blenders! Good luck!

As a non-green-food-eater, I would say, don't stress too much. Obviously, it would be better. I would LOVE to like things like salad. But I don't. I gag. Really. So, I would say focus on anything that he will eat. For me, that's green beans. Yeah, that's about the only thing that's green. Except butter beans and such...but beans aren't so veggie-y. Or...look for recipes from other countries. For example, I think that cabbage is just horrid. But when I visited Poland, I tried it to be polite and found that I didn't mind it so much. It was just cooked differently. Same with beet soup.

Dittos on Jessica Seinfeld's book. I have it and there are a few things that my daughter won't eat from it, but the concept Seinfeld expounds is worthy. Basically, steaming certain veggies (she has recommendations re: some that work and some don't - depends on the child, natch), then pureeing them and freezing the puree til read to use. You can add carrots this way to spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce, pumpkin puree to chocolate chip cookie muffins, etc. Seinfeld has plenty of ideas and ran all the ideas by a nutritionist who also chips in her ideas in the book. It's a good idea - one I can't believe never occurred to me until my daughter is now six. I have added grated carrots to chocolate chip cookies and she eats those. The book also allowed me to buy a new toy - a mini blender (individual drink size) for blending steamed veggies. Both book and blender purchased at Walmart, so easy and affordable. Be wary of blenders on-line though. Jessica Seinfeld recommends "The Bullet," and I read enough reviews on amazon to know that some blenders have histories of breaking. Have fun! And happy shopping! Hope this helps.

I work with kids who's diet is a steady intake of Hot Cheetos and Kool-aid pickles but when they come to my desk they say, "Miss Hannah, can I have some gummy bears." They love these and they have no idea they are getting 17 raw fruits and vegetables when they eat them.

I too gagged at vegetables as a kid, but now eat them with relish. With the emotion relish, that is, not actual relish. :)

Anyway, I don't know what it was as a child, but I just couldn't stand veggies and couldn't keep them down. I ended up eating mostly starches but stayed very healthy until I was old enough to eat veggies without the gag reflex.

I use the blender...puree and then hide it in mac-n-cheese. I also use the Deceptively Delicious book. My son has started eating carrots from watching others at pre-school...pre-pressure LOL!! There is also a drink...in the juice section..it may be by V8...that has veggies in it. Don't remember the name. There is an orange and purplish blue one. My kids like that too. Supposed to have a serving a veggies in it.

I know how it goes, my kids were fussy eaters too. One would eat orange vegetables (carrot, pumpkin) and the other would eat green (beans and broccoli) and not much else.

Now grown, they eat everything. The big shift happened as teens when they visited friends and ate what was served.

So, I reckon your best bet is to send him on lots of sleep overs. Maybe a whispered word in the ear of the host mother to the effect, "try him on beans tonight" might advance your cause more quickly than "I'm sorry, I can't get him to eat anything green". *wink*

Not a quick fix but I think having him help grow a garden would help. Perhaps having him help fix the meals might work, too. I don't know... my little guy is so good about eating vegetables. I think it is, in part, because he was born with a heart defect and we instill how important it is to eat healthy for his heart. I've checked out some books from the library on healthy food.

Good luck with that - I got much better when I became and adult and learned more about health.

when you find out, I've got a 5-year old who gags at veggies and meat ... unless you count salami and hot dogs as meat. He will eat a few veggie chicken nuggets tho (with major amounts of catsup, there are veggies in there right?)

Have you tried ranch dressing? There's a good one in a jar in the refrigerator part of the produce section that is our favorite... and it's much better tasting than "Hidden Valley Ranch"--yuk! Sorry I forgot the name of it (I had to take a vacation from it) since it's addicting on both fresh and steamed veggies... Try it, it's delish!

For fruits, the smoothie is perfect especially when it's hot... Just having a fruit salad of washed and pealed fruits makes it easier to eat too. Peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches are wonderful too!

Hi! Love your products and just bought your latest book! My mom gave me a chocolate cake recipe wherein you add grated zucchini (in the food processor). It is the best, most moist chocolate cake I have ever had and best part, the children eat tons of zucchini but don't know it! If you are interested in the recipe, just let me know!

My kids are generally great about veggies (like sassypriscilla, I was motivated by serious health issues in my oldest to give them only healthy stuff), but I have a few tips from when they're being ornery toddlers. Like others, I've had great success with zucchini bread (I double the amount of zucchini, but not more); my tomato sauce already has grated carrot, and I sometimes add finely chopped green pepper. Does he like stuffed pasta? Because then you could try spinach ravioli. In a pinch, I even once stuffed tubes of penne with peas. I also often mix some peas into the rice and beans I make. And omelets with lots of cheese can hide all sorts of things. Alton Brown's meatball recipe has spinach too, because his daughter is apparently picky too.

Btw, I love your book -- I made the apron already, and I get lots of compliments. If only it had occurred to me before I finished it to move the pocket and loop to the left . . .

Anna Maria,I have the same problem, only by picky boy comes in the form of a husband. Once I made mashed potatoes and mashed in some very soft steamed cauliflower. I was so proud of myself that I did the dumbest thing I could...I told him of my success!!! It ruined me. It was in the beginning of our marriage and from then on he combs all dishes with a microscope.Good luck, keep trying. I think the reason my husband doesn't eat his veggies now is because his mom was not half as persistent as you!

Geeze, if you would have picked up a package of Lorna Doone shortbread cookies and hot fudge you would have had an awesome spumoni sundae!

Have you tried to shred veggies like squash and carrots and make little fried veggie patties? Just mix in an egg, some spices (old bay tastes really yummy in these!) coat in bread crumbs and fry your little heart out.

Make a smoothie with fresh fruit and then add some avocado...won't even notice and will make it totally smooth and delish. but don't add a whole avocado, he might notice that. once you try that a few times, maybe get more gutsy and sneak in more crazy veggies like cauliflower. good luck.

oh and being a kid who LOVED veggies myself it's hard to relate, but I think part of the reason I loved veggies is that we had a huge garden out back and seriously nothing is better than veggies from your own garden--especially tomatoes--they are so much better than store bought...even better than farmers market. Seriously.

Why don't you try kolokythokeftedes? Or a meatball mix of your making. It's fried, but better than nothing. I also put veggies through the mixer to pulp level whenever I make spaghetti sauce. Carrots mix well. And a sweet red pepper (the Florina type that you find in glass jars, but you can plant some in a pot). Lahanodolmades is another choice. Make them small like youvarlakia and that multiplies the portion of cabbage eaten. Add parsley. Ain't it green, too? And you can do broccoli in a creamy cheese sauce. I'll post the recipes on Monday at the Green Greek, so you can print them out. I'll check my secret weaponry and see what else I can find!Blowing kisses across the ocean.

You make me feel so much better- my nine year old (and my six year old) are also green adverse.He will eat broccoli and asparagus on occasion though. The broccoli has to be SWIMMING in SoyVey Terriyaki or it's a no go. I also make these little crustless quiches in a muffin tin and do them up full of spinach and brocolli and he will eat them. So my suggestion would be camoflauge the veggies but I am sure you have already tried that! We get the B&J pistachio and mix it with Hagen Daz Chocolate. So good! The paper goodies are fantastic!

our girls went through that phase for a while and the thing that saved them from skirvy was the peas from "just tomatoes". they are dehydrated peas, that's it - they produce a bunch fun snacks for all ages. (justtomatoes.com - order online or try fresh market/whole foods)

p.s. some of the dehydrated fruit versions would add a nice crunch to ben + jerry's. all i'm sayin.

I have a hard time getting my daughter to eat broccoli and spinach. I stuff pasta (like beadgirl suggested) with ricotta and veggies. She also is really into dipping so I'll make some ranch or give her plain sour cream for her to dip broccoli in. I LOVE Amy's Spinach Feta pockets (in the frozen section) or spinach stuffed tortelloni. I have also found a lot of good recipes in The Petit Appetit cookbook for babies/toddlers. We still fix a lot of the recipes in it (my daughter's 20 mos). Good luck!

PS- also wheatgerm, oat bran, mung beans (sounds gross but they're very nutritious and easy to sneak into enchiladas or burritos, or make a flavored dip or spread out of), amaranth (very very good! cook like cream of wheat), Flax Seed Oil (frozen section) or ground flax, steel cut oats, are all full of nutrients and easy to sneak in places and get kids to eat!

I can totally empathize as I have a non-veggie eating 10yo daughter. For her it is a sensory issue. There are lots of things she won't eat, not just veggies, because of the way they smell or feel in her mouth. In years past before she was cooking things on her own I would cook and puree carrots and add them to her boxed mac-n-cheese. She won't eat homemade mac-n-cheese. She was none the wiser. Now she is in the kitchen with me and loves to cook so being sneaky isn't happening any longer. I hope some of the ideas others have suggested work for you. For now I am just holding out that she will begin to brave trying new foods.

Beautiful pictures, love love ,love.Now to the eating thing my son is extreamly picky, here's what I did and they work, Spinach zuccinni muffins, pumpkin carrot muffins, veggie Booty ( a puffed rice,corn dusted with green veggies) he loved those. Also persistance, I always put veggise on his plate but don't force him . He decides one night that he loves broccoli. SHOCK ! but YAY!! If any one is interested in the muffin recipes leave a not on my blog and I'll be happy to post them. Good luckMaria

There's a super-awesome book called "Deceptively Delicious" that's all about pureeing veggies (and fruits) and "hiding" them in regular food that kids like.... one of our favorites is pureed cauliflower in mac & cheese. They'll never know they're eating healthy and you'll never have to worry about them getting all the nutrients they need. Check it out! The ISBN is 9780061251344. It's $25 and well worth the investment!

This is redundant but my son refused all fruits and vegetables too, but he loved rice and that's what he lived on for YEARS! He's now 26, healthy, and was rarely sick. If I'd been a little smarter, I too would have just pureed veggies into my foods just like I had to puree onions into my ex husband's meals as onions made him gag (he never figured it out). Some people really slam Jessica Seinfeld's book but I just see it as a crutch that will get you through until your kid's taste-buds mature. BTW my picky 26 year old eats everything now.

My oldest son (now 25) still doesn't like veggies but eats salad and some raw veggies. When he was small we grew yellow skinned zucchini and shredded it into stuff he would eat (since it was invisible in other foods) like pizza, lasagne, tacos (he would order his own at Taco Bell- "just the meat and lettuce please"). We have a zuke recipe book and his sisters loved to help me bake treats while he was at kindergarten, then watch him enjoy the muffins, cookies or chocolate zucchini cake and scream with glee "it has zucchini in it!!". My 14 and 19yo boys will eat most any veg raw and almost none cooked. My older girls (17, 23, 25) have always loved all foods and my youngest (8yo girl) drinks plenty of milk and will eat almost any fruit or veg, but is very picky about her pasta (PopPop's spaghetti sauce recipe or a little butter only!), pizza (plain cheese) and protein sources (plain baked chicken, peanut butter or scrambled egg). All are healthy and as various pediatricians have said over the years- a good multi vitamin bridges the gap til their palate matures.

I couldn't resist the vegetable question! At 13 my oldest has never liked her veggies. Edamame is our ace in the hole. The flavor plus the whole experience of popping them out of the shell. She will also eat veggies if they're stir fried with a sauce: spinach, green beans, sugar snap peas, red peppers, all things she'd never touch otherwise.

My youngest eats everything placed in front of her which gave me the freedom to stop worrying about why some kids don't eat :)

I used to peel zucchini (to get rid of the tell-tale green), shred it so it looked like mozzarella cheese and mix it with said mozzarella cheese to make cheese quesadillas or with pizza, etc. This worked for us. When he was younger I also shredded carrot and added it to mac and cheese (Kraft variety). This didn't work very long!

I also started veggies in VERY small quantities (i.e. using soy sauce bowls for salad) and just telling him he had no choice!

Good luck. I was actually a very picky eater as a child and now love to try new and exotic foods so I'm hopeful it's mostly childhood!

The COLOR in your fabric, stationary, notecards is simply DELICIOUS...Too bad your son doesn't feel that way about his colorful vegetables. No suggestions here other than what you have heard so far...my parents used to let my brother make a list of 10 things he wouldn't have to eat...anything beyond that...well I remember him sitting at the table until 10 pm. Those 1970's parenting methods...mmmmm....My brother still doesn't eat much beyond Hamburger Helper and fast food. Hope your son warms up to vege eating soon:-)

The best "kids won't eat veggies then read this" cookbook ever..."Deceptively Delicious" By Jessica Seinfeld. She is Jerry Seinfeld's wife and an awesome veggie hider. My son won't eat veggies but not because of the taste, he does not have any molars yet (and he is 2.5). He gets frustrated trying to eat veggies because he can't quite chew them yet.

Hi first time posting to this blog, and I don't know if someone already suggested this, but my friend makes "ice cream" from veggies, fruit and yogurt pureed together with a little honey. Could try that, her daughter seems to like it.

I would suggest puree! Puree your favourite veggie and then put it in stuff. Like pasta sauce or casseroles. I even have a girlfriend that purees carrots and sneaks them into pancakes! The orange colour is fun for the kiddos and they never ask.LOL!Good luck!

We like the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook too. It's full of great ideas that work! Also, my mother-in-law introduced me to real southern cooking. Below Atlanta southern cooking. She uses a lot of pork flavoring and lots of other flavorings and it makes a huge difference in what I see my daughter and myself eat. I am a non-veggie eater except that now I eat so many more than I ever did. I am a texture eater, and perhaps your son is too and that makes it hard to just "get through it" as a kid. Good luck, I know he'll eat them eventually. Just do your best to have him try it and he will eventually make some progress and let you know what he does like.

i have a son like this. 14 years old. i bribe him with $$$$$ for every pea or string bean he eats(he swallows whole and has a water chaser), i give him $. i don't care what dr phil says, the boy needs to eat them. even if its only two; i hug him and kiss him like crazy. i even offer him the frozen peas... less taste. sorry but it does get the job done. by the way, i think your blog is wonderful. geri

oooh i love the journals So pretty!!! I have the same issue with my kids. I get baby food veggies or purreed veggies mixed with chicken broth or somthing similar and then mix it in everyday foods. One day I might stir in a few helpings of squash in the mac and cheese, califlower in the mashed potatos. I'm sneaky like that.

I also give them V8 Fusion to drink. The never know they are drinking vegatables.

Wish I had some advice but I have a 13 yr old whose only vegetable intake comes from Ragu Chunky Garden Combination spaghetti sauce. He won't touch vegetables. I'm so frustrated. Meal time is a major stress zone around my house. I feel like I spend the majority of my life trying to figure out what anyone will eat and if cooking dinner is just going to be this huge waste of time.

There is a book deceptively delicioius by jerry seinfelds wife. That turned my kids around--AMAZING. 2nd is growing veggies in the garden and making all my girls help with the planting,weeding and harvest. 3 everything that calls for water in a recipe i use pureed vegetables

Hi! Love your new products--keep 'em coming!! I think it's all about proportion when you're starting to introduce veggies (even when they're pureed and hidden). Start small and increase gradually, incorporating purees into things he already really likes. Also, I agree that gardening could help tremendously--even a container with a few pea seeds or a tomato seedling. Have you tried Nori--those sheets of seaweed that wrap around sushi? If he likes fish or sushi he might like those, just plain, or ground up and mixed with whatever he does like. Good luck! And if nothing works, he will still be ok :) my sil eats NO veggies and she does marathons and triathalons and has a great career, baby, and marriage :)

yeah, slip some of that liquid chlorophyll into juice or even food, if ya do it right he'll never know i even think they have peppermint flavored chlorophyll which would be even easier i've also been known to slip frozen spinach in wherever i can hide it or make it appear like it's parsley......sneaky is the name of the game.....it's for their own good right?

My eldest doesn't eat green vegetables either. So oddly, shockingly really, I discovered that he would happily drink Odwalla "Superfood" juice which tastes sort of like a pear smoothie but is filled with chlorophyll and wheatgrass or something. Don't know why he loves it so, but I'm so glad he does!

We don't fight about it though. I'm big on the 'his body, his choice' thing -- we model healthy eating and remind him occasionally that his body needs a wide range of foods. But we never talk about it at dinnertime. We keep it a stress free zone which is nice for everyone I think.

Oooh, I agree with the Juice Plus comment. I would be lost without it! As a 36yr old mother who doesn't eat veggies (yuck for the most part)(thanks to my dad's eating habits) or most fruit (I just don't care for the texture), this is the best way to get my nutrition. It is also what I have used as prenatal vitamins (a double dose) for all 3.5 perfect children. who do eat their veggies. well, we're working on the 18month old still... I can't recommend it enough! I'm not sure if your son will change.? My dad & brother didn't...Best of luck!! :)If you're interested:www.juiceplus.com/jt56199

Personally, I'm not a fan of hiding vegetables. That and calling all meat bacon because that is her favourite and will always eat it. Neither do much for developing a palate. That being said, I do have a fantastic recipe for squash macaroni and cheese.

http://backseatgourmet.blogspot.com/2008/10/macamoni-and-cheese.html

Other sneaky tricks, aside from those mentioned is doing the same thing for meatballs that people suggest for meatloaf (It makes things really moist, so you have to add more of a binder like bread crumbs), adding lots of veg to tomatoes sauce and blitzing the whole thing, and pureed veggie soups (if he'll go there) with cashew butter - so creamy.

though I've enjoyed your blog for a while now, have never worked up the courage to leave a comment before. but, the following was just too good not to pass on:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090302120019.htmperhaps it will help! and thanks for all the wonderful short-yet-poignant ruminations on life, family, art, etc ...

Thank You a ton for writing such a wonderful piece of information. Keep sharing such ideas in the future as well. This was actually what I was looking for, and I am glad to came here! Thanks for sharing the such information with us.

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